History of the horse in the Indian subcontinent
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The horse has been present in the Indian subcontinent from at least the middle of the second millennium BC,[1] more than two millennia after its domestication in Central Asia.[2] The earliest uncontroversial evidence of horse remains on the Indian Subcontinent date to the early Swat culture (around 1600 BCE).While horse remains and related artifacts have been found in Late Harappan (1900-1300 BCE) sites, indicating that horses may have been present at Late Harappan times,[3] horses did not play an essential role in the Harappan civilisation,[4] in contrast to the Vedic period (1500-500 BCE).[5] The importance of the horse for the Indo-Aryans is indicated by the Sanskrit word Ashva, "horse," which is often mentioned in the Vedas and Hindu scriptures.